Pages tagged "feminism"

I never read a Wonder Woman comic nor saw the 1970s TV show, but as a feminist and a historian I was intrigued by the very idea of Jill Lepore's The Secret History of Wonder Woman –even before it won the New York Historical Society's American History Book Prize. Those not prepared to read all 297 pages of the book can read the New Yorker excerpt or find the main points in the 16-page color insert that features panels from initial 1941 sketches to Wonder Woman's appearance on the cover of the first regular issue of Ms. magazine in July 1972. (Casual readers can ignore the 109 pages of sources, notes, indices.) Like Superman (1938) and Batman (1939), Wonder Woman (1941), never out of print, helped launch the Golden Age of comic books.

We scheduled this post and Part 1 in celebration of today, Women's Equality Day, which commemorates U.S. women achieving the right to vote by the ratification in 1920 of the 19th amendment to the Constitution. Since then, notions of female and male continue to evolve, and new contestations emerged. -- Ed.

By Christine R. Riddiough

Gender shapes our lives from their very beginning. In part 1 of this blog post, I described two characteristics of gender as defined in the mid-20th century:

It is binary – you are defined as either female or male when you’re born - when the doctor, nurse or midwife wraps the baby in a pink or blue blanket.

It is a personal characteristic – everybody has one gender, the one they’re born with and that defines who they are and how they should act throughout their lives.

In discussing the gender binary in part 1, I defined four dimensions of gender: biology, identity, expression, orientation. The assumption most people have had is that each of these dimensions should be aligned. Biological females are women, who dress and act femininely and who are attracted to and have relationships with men.

We scheduled this post and the next in celebration (perhaps ironic celebration) of Women's Equality Day, which commemorates U.S. women achieving the right to vote by the ratification in 1920 of the 19th amendment to the Constitution. Since then, notions of female and male continue to evolve, and new contestations emerged.

In its October 15, 2013, issue, the New York Times asked the question,"Are ‘Trans Rights’ and ‘Gay Rights’ Still Allies?" Two things in that debate (and in other similar discussions on the Internet and at conferences) stood out for me as a socialist feminist:

the fact that the question was asked at all

the fact that, in talking about these gender-related issues, there is no mention of the fight for women's rights/liberation

From a socialist feminist perspective the response to the title question has to be a resounding "Yes." But the failure of the article (and to a large extent the LGBTQ movement) to really address the second point shows the limits of the question.

Since I came to socialist feminism, I have harbored ambivalent and at times critical thoughts toward Mother’s Day. I have tended to think this day represents a token appreciation of the work mothers do to produce and sustain human life, because it is everyday work that is essential but most often goes unrecognized and unvalued. This lack of social recognition in effect renders many mothers vulnerable to violence, exploitation and disease. One day alone in the calendar year cannot begin to meet the need for recognition of this most mundane and absolutely necessary work and the mothers who do it.

More than 600 people gathered at Boston University at the end of March for a conference on “A Revolutionary Moment: The Women’s Liberation Movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s.”Hosted by the university’s Women’s and Gender Studies program, the conference was exhilarating and exciting. It provided an opportunity to discuss the many issues that face feminists today and to reflect on the work that was done decades ago.

Throughout modern history, young people have kindled the flames of social movements across the world. In the last century, students initiated successful fights against Jim Crow and the Vietnam war, and the more recent struggles against neoliberal austerity in Greece, Quebec, and Wall Street have had an undeniably youthful energy. In 2014, the leftward trajectory of youth in the United States is visible in the increasing membership and participation of students in the Young Democratic Socialists (YDS).

This President’s Day weekend, over 100 young activists from across the country converged in New York for the annual YDS winter conference: Beyond Capitalism: Activism and Ideas for the Next Left. The conference offered plenaries, presentations and workshops to strengthen both the analytical and strategic acumen of YDS members, while also providing a welcoming environment to facilitate social networking among activists on a national scale.

March 8 is International Women’s Day (IWD), an annual tradition that began over a hundred years ago. While celebrations continue worldwide, few people remember that the holiday was first initiated by American Socialists. As legend would have it, they were inspired to hold a demonstration in order to mark the anniversary of an 1857 female garment workers’ strike in New York. However, the more accurate account is that in 1908, the Socialist Party of America established a National Woman’s Committee to aid in the party’s recruitment efforts, and the committee’s first action was to declare the last Sunday in February to be Woman’s Day.

On March 8, we celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD) – a holiday that originated in the United States and was later codified by the Socialist International in 1914. IWD reminds us that the struggle for women’s rights and liberation is an international struggle. This year on IWD we should remind ourselves of the role played by immigrant women in the U.S. These women, our ancestors, came seeking a better life. They got jobs as maids and nannies, in factories and on farms. Too often, they were disdained by the immigrants who had preceded them. The same is all too true today.

Why should we focus on women’s health right now? Is women's health under attack?

Women, particularly women of color and poor women, have regularly faced government intrusion in their health care and family planning decisions. Recently, the Right has ramped up its attacks and extended them to health providers and services used by all women. According to plannedparenthoodaction.org, “More than 1,000 provisions related to women’s health were introduced in states over the last two years, and 257 of them became laws, the vast majority of which interfere with women’s health.” These provisions include conferring full constitutional rights on a fertilized egg or unconstitutionally banning abortion after six weeks. In 2012, 48 U.S. Senators voted to allow religiously affiliated (not just religious) institutions to refuse to cover contraception to insured employees, as the Affordable Care Act requires. These are all attacks on women’s health and furthermore, women’s reproductive freedom.

Meet Mrs. Jones, my neighbor up the block. She's 75 and lives with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Then there's my friend Ellen who's a single mother. Her son is an adult now, but while he was growing up she had to juggle several jobs and childcare. And there's my wife and I – we've been together for 30 years – and married for almost one year.

DSA was concerned to find out that the company that provides our website and online organizing infrastructure, NationBuilder, had as a client the Trump campaign and other right-wing candidates. Progressives built this kind of infrastructure and tools for digital organizing and we have now lost that organizing edge. We are moving to identify other options for a CMS/CRM. As an under-resourced, member funded organization, this move will take time for us to carry out, but it is an important statement for us to make.